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Cheryshev cut from final Russia squad

Russia coach Fabio Capello on Monday named his final 23-man squad to play in the FIFA World Cup™ finals led by experienced defender Sergei Ignashevich, midfielder Roman Shirokov and forward Alexander Kerzhakov. The 31-year-old Kerzhakov is the only player in the squad who has previous World Cup experience having been in the squad that competed in 2002, the last time Russia reached the final stages.

Capello trimmed his original squad of 30 down to 25 in mid-May and the two players to miss out on being in the final selection were Denis Cheryshev from Spanish high-flyers Sevilla and Pavel Mogilevets of Rubin Kazan. The former England manager, who recently extended his contract with the Russian Football Union until the end of the 2018 World Cup, retained talented youngsters Andrei Semenov and Maxim Kanunnikov.

He named his final squad two days after a 1-1 draw with Norway in a friendly match. Last month Russia defeated Slovakia 1-0 in their first World Cup warm-up match. All of Capello's squad are from Russian Premier League sides including six from Dynamo Moscow, who finished fourth in the league this season.

Five players represent champions CSKA, who retained their title this season, and four are from runners-up Zenit St Petersburg. Russia will open their World Cup campaign against Korea Republic on 18 June.

Capello's side have been drawn in World Cup Group H, which also includes Belgium and Algeria as they make their first appearance at the finals in 12 years. The last time Russia played in the World Cup finals in 2002 they faced Belgium, Japan and Tunisia in their group, but failed to advance into the knock-out stages.

The best performance by a Russian team in the World Cup dates back to 1966 in England when the then Soviet Union came fourth.